{"id":537277,"date":"2018-03-04T04:00:32","date_gmt":"2018-03-04T11:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=537277"},"modified":"2018-03-07T20:15:11","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T03:15:11","slug":"cancer-struggle-makes-deportation-threat-a-matter-of-life-or-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/03\/cancer-struggle-makes-deportation-threat-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Cancer struggle makes deportation threat a matter of life or death"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_537282\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-537282\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSC_0242-771x511-771x511.jpg\" alt=\"Laura Aguilar\" width=\"771\" height=\"511\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSC_0242-771x511.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSC_0242-771x511-336x223.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSC_0242-771x511-768x509.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Xchelzin Pe\u00f1a \/ New Mexico In Depth<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Laura Aguiar<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Laura Aguiar moved to New Mexico eight months ago and settled in the outskirts of the state\u2019s capital. She began reaching out to volunteer with a local \u201cDreamers\u201d organization when she started to feel sick.<\/p>\n<p>There was chest pain. Headaches. Stomach aches. And diarrhea. After several visits to the doctor, she was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer, which is manageable if caught early.<\/p>\n<p>A cancer diagnosis is enough to unsettle anyone. But Aguiar is struggling with uncertainty that doesn\u2019t weigh down many other cancer patients.<\/p>\n<p>Aguiar is one of hundreds of thousands of adults across the nation \u2014 there are 6,000 in New Mexico \u2014 who\u2019ve qualified for the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. President Trump asked Congress to agree on a permanent solution by Monday or the administration would end it.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2018\/03\/02\/cancer-struggle-makes-deportation-threat-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico In Depth<\/a>. Sign up for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=1d2ab093d81b992e50978b363&amp;id=9294743d38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The 28-year-old was brought to the United States when she was 2. Aguiar\u2019s family came from Jalisco, Mexico, and settled in Washington state.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday of last week the U.S. Supreme Court gave Dreamers a reprieve that could protect most from deportation for the rest of the year, and perhaps even longer. It rejected the administration\u2019s request to end the program while lawsuits work their way through federal courts. The decision will ease the pressure for Congress to come up with a solution as it also allows recipients to renew their applications.<\/p>\n<p>Aguiar is relieved.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis gives me hope that the program has the ability to continue even if the members of Congress cannot reach a deal,\u201d she said last Monda. \u201cIt has withstood many challenges and today\u2019s decision shows that it can continue to withstand those challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the reprieve doesn\u2019t sweep away the long-term uncertainty that shadows Aguiar\u2019s life.<\/p>\n<p>Her cancer offers a life-and-death perspective on why legal status is important.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cQuite frankly, my longevity will depend on DACA or me being able to retain legal status,\u201d Aguiar said. \u201cBecause it has spread from my pancreas, which was my original location, to the liver, I am diagnosed as stage 4.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LoA-kNYiF58\" width=\"771\" height=\"433\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Living with cancer<\/h3>\n<p>Neuroendocrine cells are similar to nerve and hormone-producing cells. Cancer is formed when these cells abnormally grow into tumors. They are rare tumors. Some are benign, while others can be cancerous.<\/p>\n<p>Patients like Aguiar are expected to live for a couple of years to decades, but what is definite is that the cancer is terminal. \u201cIt\u2019s the cancer that Steve Jobs had,\u201d Aguiar shared.<\/p>\n<p>Many people think Jobs had pancreatic cancer, but it was neuroendocrine cancer that spread to his pancreas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI take one day at a time, you know? If I wake up in a lot of pain, I\u2019ll take my pain killers, sleep for a bit and hope that when I wake up, the pain is manageable so that I can come to work &#8212; because work is the only way I can qualify for any health insurance,\u201d Aguiar said.<\/p>\n<p>The United States National Library of Medicine states that there is a 77.5 percent chance of patients reaching their fifth year with neuroendocrine cancer. She will have a scan done in March that will reveal if the cancer has spread even further.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The focus of Aguiar\u2019s medical agenda right now is to shrink the tumors and manage the symptoms of constant chest pain, headaches, stomach aches and diarrhea. If the tumors shrink, doctors might be able to remove them, but because the cancer is cellular it will never go away, Aguiar said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have learned that this cancer isn\u2019t curable, but I might still be able to live a longer life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The only way she qualifies for health insurance is through her employer, Southwestern College in Santa Fe, where she is a financial aid adviser.<\/p>\n<p>Aguiar pays $46 per month for Sandostatin injections. The drug covered by her insurance. Without that insurance, she would have to pay thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n<p>Even with her employer-provided insurance, medical expenses are a stumbling block.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s $350 for a ER visit, $70 for urgent care, $80 to go see a specialist, $40 to see my primary care physician. In the month of January, I had one ER visit, one primary care visit and two specialist visits,\u201d Aguiar said.<\/p>\n<p>Faculty and staff members from her alma mater in Toppenish, Washington, Heritage University, established a GoFundMe page to help with the expenses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey all came together after hearing about my diagnosis and called themselves \u2018Laura\u2019s Lift Team,\u2019\u201d Aguiar said.<\/p>\n<p>Aguiar has the support of her wife and faculty, but those who are missing are her family members. The last time Aguiar saw her family was around last Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know it has been difficult for them because they wish they could be here for me, but they can\u2019t,\u201d Aguiar said. \u201cSo I haven\u2019t seen any of them, not even when I was hospitalized or anything because they are too worried to travel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tUXHyIXaJT0\" width=\"771\" height=\"433\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Feeling a calling<\/h3>\n<p>Aguiar found herself in New Mexico last year after her wife, Crystal Ya\u00f1ez, who is a U.S. citizen, enrolled at Southwestern College to pursue a master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n<p>Because Aguiar had worked in financial aid at Heritage, she found a job at Southwestern.<\/p>\n<p>Aguiar feels called to the work she does.<\/p>\n<p>After graduating from Heritage in 2012, she went back to working in the fields with the rest of her family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut one month to the day President Barack Obama announced his DACA program and I was finally able to get a professional job where I could use my college degree,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Aguiar became a financial aid adviser and provided a safe space for undocumented students in her office back in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really tried my best to be proactive because I understood what they were going through,\u201d Aguiar said.<\/p>\n<p>She encouraged low-income, DACA and undocumented students to aim high and to continue with their studies, but sometimes Aguiar received backlash from their parents and family members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of parents of undocumented students have the notion that you shouldn\u2019t encourage them or overly encourage them because they might not be able to succeed and be disappointed,\u201d Aguiar said.<\/p>\n<p>It happened to Aguiar. Her mother got upset with her high school counselor for encouraging Aguiar to attend college.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mom once yelled at a counselor,\u201d she said. \u201cShe was like, \u2018Stop trying to get her to go to college, stop trying to get her to do all these things and get these ideas in her head in which she won\u2019t be able to do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That same counselor played an important role for Laura, who recalled a poster he had that displayed a quote from American football coach Lou Holtz. It\u2019s quote Aguiar now lives by.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLife is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it,\u201d she said. \u201cI guess my message that I would like to leave goes back to that original quote.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is pretty much how I\u2019ve lived my life, because I\u2019ve had some pretty bad situations,\u201d Aguiar said. \u201cI was told once in high school that I shouldn\u2019t try so hard to have good grades because I was going to be a field worker just like my parents. I could\u2019ve taken that to heart, but what I\u2019ve decided to do at that moment is to show that person that no, I could be more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With her counselor\u2019s help, Aguiar attended Heritage University with scholarships and the Mellon Mays fellowship, whose goal is to diversify faculty at higher educational institutions. She received her degree in mathematics in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Aguiar hopes to become a financial aid director in the future.<\/p>\n<p>Dru Phoenix, Laura\u2019s boss and Southwestern\u2019s enrollment director, said she and other Southwestern College staff love Laura and are willing to do whatever it takes to support her during this health crisis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe has been truly remarkable in what she has offered our school in the short time she has been here,\u201d Phoenix said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we are participating in the GoFundMe page to help raise money for medical expenses. Staff have visited her in the hospital and drove her to medical appointments. She has been able to flex her hours and work from home when she is in a lot of pain. It is important for us to convey to her how much we care about her and her situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The DACA situation made Phoenix aware of the possibility of losing Laura as an employee, the impact on employers and the economy if the program were to end.<\/p>\n<p>Phoenix said she is relieved by last week&#8217;s court order and remains hopeful that Aguiar will be able to pursue her dreams.<\/p>\n<p><em>See more of New Mexico In Depth\u2019s interview with Aguiar on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC2nnpx5JrZy1lo_bCCn2zpA?view_as=subscriber\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Youtube<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><em>Xchelzin Pe\u00f1a\u00a0holds New Mexico In Depth\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/new-mexico-in-depth-journalism-fellowship-for-students-of-color\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2017\/2018 fellowship<\/a>\u00a0for a current or recently graduated journalism student at New Mexico State University<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A cancer diagnosis is enough to unsettle anyone. But Laura Aguiar is struggling with uncertainty that doesn\u2019t weigh down many other cancer patients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":537282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,117],"class_list":["post-537277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-health-care"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}